Prospecting Callisto Note: 09/06/2011. Image Updated. New render. Crew Vehicle Model Re-design. Mars enters an age of innovation and invention as industry labors to produce the tools and large scale transportation systems required for the terraforming program. The lander (pictured above) is a multi-use mission vehicle delivered to Callisto via Orion power-pack. Interplanetary crew-vehicle & lander are a single integrated stage – rather than two space-craft. The crew habitat is largely zero-g with an internal drum centrifuge for artificial gravity – located along the central spine this serves as solar-storm shelter, food preparation area & cafeteria, and contains mission briefing rooms and gym. The vehicle sports first generation Gas-Core Nuclear Light-Bulb main engines (8 total -- these represent the first deployed production model of an engine of this type) capable of lofting its crew of 40 and a heavy return payload of ammonia ice to Callisto orbit where it will mate with the Orion return stage for return to Mars orbit.. Callisto is the third-largest moon in the Solar System and the second largest in the Jovian system, after Ganymede. Callisto has about 99% the diameter of the planet Mercury but only about a third of its mass. It is the fourth Galilean moon of Jupiter by distance, with an orbital radius of about 1,168,177.8miles --due to this relatively distant orbit Callisto is not subjected to tidal resonance and heating and orbits outside Jupiter’s intense radiation belt. Because of this isolation, Callisto has remained relatively undifferentiated since its formation in the low-density Jovian subnebula -- this may make it an ideal source of ammonia ice for the Martian terraforming program. In a process similar to “fracking” steam could be injected into ammonia rich veins -- the resulting gases pumped out, then cryogenically cooled to a liquid state for filtering to remove impurities. The final purified product would be injected into cylindrical molds and allowed to cryogenically freeze solid before being sprayed with a thermal blanket to prevent boil-off during transport back to Mars orbit. Here crews set up test well-heads prior to establishing a full scale ammonia production facility on the surface of Callisto. Related Images: Mars Colony Project Vehicle Diagram Aero Braking Syria Planum Landing Mars Colony: The Expanding Frontier Lander, autonomous-equipment carts, and drilling gear are my own Bryce creations. Model Credit: Space suit is a Google SketchUp 3DS model by Max Grueter -- retextured in Bryce. NASA & JPL photographic resources used to create stellar backdrop. As always thank you for your interest, thoughtful comments, and encouragement.